Final deliverable for the zoom phase is on Friday. Let’s get nostalgic and do a little self reflection for the past few of weeks.

I initially started out thinking I was going to focus on a highly crafted and reliable experience prototype: the actual camera/tripod unit itself. It has become very clear, however that the camera unit is actually a very small part of the interaction and in the majority of situations an interaction which the end-user has little to no awareness of. While a very important, if not crucial part of the concept I need to extend my focus.

My main worry with branching out a bit was that everything would lose quality and would go from an exciting experience prototype to a proof of concept. I think this came from an early fear of just hacking something together. I have now realised that it is perfectly acceptable to have a ‘hacked’ object provided that it is obvious that that is what it is, i.e: make it out of paper and wood so that observers are not judging the object itself but more the interactions that it, or the concept, creates.

The zoom phase has also allowed me to nail my idea down pretty tightly from multiple angles; I have chosen a context, an end user (more importantly, the type of end user) and am beginning to craft all the elements which will make up the entire project in my head. Just to clarify, my project consists of three major elements: the cameras, the iPhone app and the website. I now have 3 distinct areas to focus on over the coming ‘make’ phase of the project.

My main worry from here on out is whether I’ll actually be able to accomplish all that I aim to achieve. Currently I intend to create everything to a completed level but am not disillusioned to the fact that I may be forced to cut corners by, for example, creating a video demonstrating the iPhone app rather than actually create one.

The coming week will be very much about mocking up visuals for each element and gathering some form of feedback from a handful of snowboarders.

Here goes…